1. Field of the Invention
A suture organizer to maintain a plurality of sutures attached to a patient during a surgical procedure or operation in position relative to each other during the surgical procedure of operation.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Many types of surgery require the use of multiple sutures to pull severed muscles, nerves and tendons away from the surgery site. For example, during heart surgery multiple sutures are used to repair the mitral and aortic valves. If the sutures are not properly organized, the sutures can become entangled and complicate the surgeon's job. To aid the surgeon, many suture organizers have been developed, the most common of which is known as the Gabbay-Frater organizer. These heart surgery suture organizers are specific to heart surgery where the patient is supine and motionless.
In particular, during surgery, a surgeon needs ready and efficient access to sutures. Often the suture handling practice has been considered inefficient, clumsy and wasteful. Often sutures were laid out on towels and passed individually to the surgeon when needed. The sutures became entangled and difficult to separate; the suture supply was sometimes spilled or upset.
In addition to the Gabbey-Frater organizer, devices that lay out and retain sutures in a neat and organized fashion before the sutures are needed have been developed. These devices enable the surgical scrub nurse to deftly grasp an individual suture and pass it to the surgeon. However, the surgeon typically attaches numerous sutures to the patient before tying or knotting and cutting the individual sutures. The sutures are typically extended away from the surgical field and laid out on the surgical drape, the sutures being somewhat immobilized by a surgical clamp which is secured to the free end of each suture. Some operations such as vascular surgery require numerous fine sutures which can easily soon crowd the surgical field and become entangled before the surgeon can tie them. Untangling the sutures delays completion of the surgery and increases the trauma of the patient.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,692,599 teaches a ligature holder for surgical operations comprising an elongated relatively stiff base strip, an elongated helical spring, anchor elements carried by the base strip at locations on one side thereof spaced apart along the length of the base strip. Opposite ends of the spring are connected to the respective anchor elements and adjustable means associated with the spring for varying the tension thereof and thereby varying the gripping pressure of adjacent coils of the spring on surgical ligatures between the coils.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,515,129 shows a surgical appliance comprising of an elongated channel shaped strip of flexible plastic having overlapping ends provided with registering apertures to receive a connector for positioning the strip into a generally circular form for emplacement as a retractor in an incision. The strip includes coplanar lateral wings on its side edges and lateral fingers disposed between the wings to define suture holding slits with outer rounded ends of the wings serving as guides for the introduction of sutures from the incised area into the slits. The winged sections are severable from the strip and attachable by connectors to wings on the strip to provide mounting feet in the external incision encompassing placement of the suture holding appliance.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,185,636 disclosures a plurality of organizers each formed with an arcuate support member upon which a plurality of suture holding devices are positioned in spaced relationship one to the other. The organizers are disposed proximate an area of a body upon which surgery is to be performed to facilitate speedy and orderly control of interrupted sutures and needles utilized during the surgical procedure. Each holding device includes a pair of spaced wall members and a resilient holding member disposed in compression therebetween in such a manner that sutures can be releasably held between the resilient member and the adjacent wall member surface.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,274,398 relates to a surgical retractor comprising a frame to fit the surface contour of the portion of the body to be operated on and at least one stay including an elastic member and tissue holding means. The frame has a plurality of notches spaced about its periphery and the elastic member of the stay is adapted to be inserted into one of the notches and held in place by friction to retract the tissue.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,492,229 describes a suture guide holder for releasably securing a “Gabbay-Frater” type suture guide in place adjacent a surgical incision held open by a retractor. The holder includes a rigid frame with a central opening for access to the incision area. The frame is adapted to rest directly on the arms of the retractor. It may also be secured to the surgical drapes at the incision site by spring clips extending downwardly from a bottom side of the frame. Upwardly protruding studs receive towel clip holes of the suture guides, securing the guides in position on the frame adjacent the incision.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,207,703 shows a suture organizer comprises a flat, plate-like member having fingerlike projections extending from an upper surface thereof. A layer of adhesive is provided on a lower surface of the plate-like member in order to adhere to a surgical drape or sheet near the vicinity of a surgical incision. Sutures are received in valleys defined by the projections thereby minimizing entanglement of the sutures after surgical attachment but prior to tying and cutting.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,303,568 teaches a suture clamp and/or suture retainer and organizer device for use during a surgical procedure including an elongated body formed of resilient material having a plurality of spaced lateral slits through one surface. The slits are individually identified and sized to receive and grip a surgical suture. A tapered pocket is located adjacent to and opens into each slit for receiving and retaining the nose of a hemostat attached to a suture. The device may be attached by adhesive backing or by clamps to a surgical drape or other support surface.
U.S 2003/0055439 relates to an apparatus for holding and arranging threads in surgical operations with a flexible structure including a ring form connecting straight linear forms or divided linear forms. V shape ditches are cut on the upper portion. The threads are accurately held and arranged without any tangling with other threads.
Thus there is a need for a device that will neatly and efficiently organize and retain sutures during surgery.